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printing needs John's Liquor Store 729 Main Street Falmouth 5085476 e and welcome to the meeting of the FMA select board it is Monday February 10th 2025 and it is exactly
6:30 um I would ask you to please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I ALG to the FL flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for
all thank you and I would ask that you um please silence your cell phones and double check that they are indeed silenced and notify me as the chair if you are making a video or audio recording of of this
open thank you of this Open Session okay we're going to start with a proclamation Mr Brown Proclamation uh recognizing the planning board whereas article 17 of the special town meeting of May 28 1923 voted to appoint a
committee of 12 to be known as the planning board since more than 30 articles were proposed requesting roads and water main Extensions by the town whereas the fouth annual report for 1924 states that a planning board was appointed by the town Board of Selectmen
with 12 members named LC weeks chairman Francis P Stevens secretary Joseph P mcll HH SMI HV Lawrence for three-year terms William B Dillingham Martha M
Boyce a g hadon CB Fisher for two-year terms and Harriet n Vader e Kelly and John H HED to one-year terms whereas on October 16th 1924 Dr LS C weeks chair of the town
planning board attended a conference of the Federation of planning boards of Massachusetts and noted that Falmouth was one of four towns in the state that had appointed a planning board whereas the initial work of the planning board was confined to the preparation of a zoning bylaw to pre preserve the
characteristic of the town and the fouth Enterprise argued that zoning Fosters a wholesome neighborhood spirit and greater civic pride whereas the Z the zoning bylaw was amended at annual and special meetings with lengthy lengthy
debate over two nights and on April 20th 1926 accepted by a vote of 188 to 122 whereas the town of Falmouth was the first town on Cape Cod to adopt a zoning bylaw and whereas the annual report for
the year ending December 31st 1927 states that the planning board has cons considered all questions within its field relating to roads building public lands Etc and has been represented at all state and County conferences now
therefore we Nancy Robins Taylor Edwin P zilinsky II Douglas C Brown Robert P Mcall and Heather MH Goldstone as the select Board of the town of Falmouth by the authority vested in us do hereby proclaim the 100th anniversary of the
fouth planning board at witness thereof we have here unto set our hand of the town of fouth to be AIX this day the 10th of February 2025 I think we have the chair of the
planning board here to accept the proclamation chairman the rest of the board I want to thank you for taking this Proclamation seriously I want to thank Paul drer who's the historian for our board for finding this information and bringing it to the attention of the town I'm not too
sure AV wise whether or not it was heard do you think that it was I know it's heard on TV yeah I hope you could hear me here yeah there's there's actually no connection between what you hear in the room and what they hear on the broadcast two different systems
that's good to hear so thank you very much for giving it your attention and I think it's a a real good marker for the town thank you I'll ask okay we going to move into Rec recognitions any recognitions from the
board I I have one M chair yes Mr M I I just would like to publicly recognize the work that was done by the plastic reduction advisory committee which recently uh finished up their work and uh sent some proposed regulations to the
Board of Health um as I think we all remember uh this came about as a result of a failed uh article vote at the April 2023 town meeting with respect to plastic uh reduction and I just think it's a an example of how a uh a
community and a committee can get out ahead of things bring in stakeholders and do the work theyve worked for about a year and a half on these regulations brought in the public the restaurant tours uh other interested people and I think it's just a really good example of
what can happen with when there's that type of uh input so thank you thank you Mr Mcall other recognitions okay we'll move on to announcements any announcements from the board just again uh I know we're going I
know we're going to be speaking late a little later on about the Pocasset closing but I will mention that uh representative Vieira and state senator Fernandez are holding a u a meeting tomorrow at 6 PM I'm uh on yeah tomorrow
2:11 6 pm at the Pocasset Village Association Hall on Barlow's Landing Road on the uh on on the issue of the closure of the Pocasset uh facility thank you Mr mcal Miss gostone
yeah I would uh just like to remind uh the community that we have a lot of opportunities to get involved uh with Town governance uh virtually every committee to which I am a liaison uh currently has openings on those committees uh they're all fabulous
groups of people to work with working really hard to do great things in town and so for anyone who's looking uh to get more involved um take a look at the uh openings on Town committees and and please uh do Step Up great thank you Mr
Brown one uh I noticed that the cap light compact has a new solar Loan program 2.75% interest for putting solar on your home so that could be helpful to a lot of folks and where could they get more information thank a website okay great
anything else from the board okay we'll move into public comment is anyone here for public comment okay we'll move on well business number one report from the 250th anniversary task force and we have Paul
drer to present to the board the presentation welcome we just done yeah thank you sorry let me just Madam chair thank you very much for opportunity to do this
uh this is a very brief summary of the event of the F 250th don't forget to tell us who you are even though we know yes please uh yeah ready click off of
it there it is I'll just introduce yourself so so people at home thank you you are the intent of this brief presentation is to give a brief update on the F 250 activities for the period ending December 31st
2024 the organization was established by your board on August 12th 2024 you interviewed several members they were appointed they're listed on the list I won't go through them they're all very qualified long-term residents some having experience going back to the
bicentennial that was was done 50 years ago uh in addition Mr Mcall was named select board leison and the group has met eight times before the end of the year so we're pretty active trying to do a number of things the proposed General
activities is some general activities develop a comprehensive plan for for the celebration um coordinate with family Historical Society because they're doing a lot of work on this subject as well participate uh participate with the school district because the educational
aspect is very important to the to the committee um coordinate and support the town other events and other towns are doing similar things and look for potential funding sources to be able to do these things and provide a summary report as required by the town manager
the specific uh uh activities we're trying to do include coordinate with the museums on the green they are proposed their revolutionary lantis and lyrics for April 27th and we're supporting that as a kick off event and it will the
intent is to have it on the library lawn uh we were trying to do it on the Village Green but DPW is beginning some serious work replacing electrical lines and flag pole and everything else so we've agreed to move to accommodate DPW uh looking at a granite stone
monument Small Monument uh uh DPW has has provided something and so we're working on that as a monument to recognize the Battle of Falmouth in April 2nd 1779 um consider banners on Main Street
with a maximum of 10 polls we haven't designed this yet we need to come back to you and see if you would permit that to happen uh I don't know if you have a policy I heard you were developing one but we need to work with you to make sure that uh you're in agreement with
that um we're work with the school district they're very excited about doing different things they had uh students participate in the uh Christmas parade uh with the uh students carrying the banner for the 250th so we provided some information to them and they're going
through their uh procedures and so forth and seeing what they can do uh as part of the 250 but they're very very excited about that and we're looking for funding for two items at this time at a fiscal 2025 we requested a consideration for
the April town meeting of $6,600 there'll be other activities coming on but we intend to request that for the fiscal year 2026 I'm pleased to take any questions thank you questions from the board Mr Brown you had a question I was going to
ask a different question about the planning board history I oh I'm I just heard that you were a historian for the planning board and I wonder I have heard in the past that the uh fouth Heights was potentially the possibly the first planned residential community in the
United States have you ever heard that yes I believe that is that circular area up there was one of the first planned communities I did not mention that but the uh Historical Society historical commission excuse me was trying to get that uh recognized that Historical Area
and I think there was some concerns there because people felt it would be restrictive and what they might want to do in their area but that's true yeah interesting but we're going back before yeah 100 years and I appreciate the proclamation thank you yeah I get a different question about this since you
just mentioned the April 27 2025 conflicting with the dpw's work is there any chance you might consider pushing your data off a little bit maybe a little into the summer well we talked to DPW about that we talked to Mr mccarn and
uh you know the work they're doing is pretty dependent on the weather yeah if they dig up the grass it'll be dug up most the summer and if we have a group of people that having an event we're not really going to help them do their work so the options were to change a date mhm
change the venue or get DPW to change their schedule and uh they recommended that we look at changing the venue yeah so the intent is to move it to uh uh Library lawn we need to go through that process yet we haven't done that yet but
uh excuse me I think that'll work very well uh but to dig up that area they have to replace all the electrical lines for all the uh events that they do they to replace the pole and a number of other things that we were not aware of when we started okay but we're trying to cooperate with them very closely got it
m gostone yeah I have a question about the um the planned uh plaque yes um you've got it here as fouth Heights I noticed in the the version we got in our packet it said surf drive or fouth Heights and I was so I'm just curious where the location is and if that
location has uh historical significance for the Battle of fth well one of the things we did uh Peter mccy noted that DPW does have a number of granite blocks that they use elsewhere they've offered those Granite blocks a group from our committee went
out looked at the Block picked one and actually moved it up to DPW the location was a question it we wanted to put it where the actual U Battle of FMA occurred long surf drive but we're facing sea level rise and it doesn't
make a lot of sense we looked at the uh parking lot near where the Old Stone dock is but that's even more vulnerable so uh we looked at uh perhaps The Village Green for the same reason that we have an issue there and uh camon Aldo
picked out an area where the steps are going down from fouth Heights to the uh to the uh beach now that is not exactly where the battle was but it's a a very safe permanent place where people can enjoy it while going down the steps so trying to accommodate everyone with
that okay any other questions or comments thank you very much Mr Dr we look forward to your next steps well I want to thank Tom Andre because he's the one who pushed this thing along and got you to accept it so we appreciate his input here and we're working closely
with him as well great thank you thank you okay we're going to move into presentation of the petition articles for the April 2025 annual town meeting and we'll start with the presentation of article 16 My Name is Earl Barnhart Precinct 8
uh thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak I would like your permission to use the 10 minutes for both articles 16 and 17 in one presentation certainly I represent many Cape Cod citizens who are seeing water pollution
continue to worsen in the groundwater freshwater ponds and Coastal estuaries this increasing water pollution is due to nitrogen and urine that enters Wastewater in every flesh toilet in every home on the cape 80% of the
nitrogen in Wastewater originates in urine of the residence but that urine is only 1% of the volume of the Wastewater we think that the fastest most affordable solution to water pollution is to stop urine from entering
the groundwater by diverting it transporting it away treating it to make it safe to use as fertilizer and recycling it back to agriculture our goal is to see a wide range of urine diverting me methods approved for use by residents who choose
to use them in progress reports in November the town and maztech predicted that the planning for a pilot project would probably be complet completed in time to request funding for the project at Springtown meeting we had not heard
anything by early January about this and the deadline for petition articles appeared so we submitted two articles to further facilitate progress on urine diversion planning we have been following the town's water quality management
committee planning activities for many years for many years we have requested that the committee facilitate ways for residents to a wide range of urine diversion methods and fixtures many of which have been developed and used successfully in other parts of the world notably
Europe unfortunately the committee is currently focused solely on the goal of getting Mass D to qualify urine diversion to be classified as an IA technology for nitrogen credits in the town's Wastewater plans the committee hopes that if your inversion becomes a
mass D approved IIA technology the town might allow residents to use it as an alternative option to 50 to 80,000 IIA septic systems soon to be mandated in town Watershed plans one problem is that mass DP is proposing a very narrow set
of conditions of what would constitute acceptable urine diversion Mass D seems to have lost track of the fundamental goals of diverting urine from groundwater and instead has become fixated on the requirement that the pilot project only use fixtures at
collect urine that can be measured for example it is not Mast is not considering several types of fixtures that divert urine without collecting it there are two examples composting toilets that divert urine by incorporating it into the compost
incinerating toilets that divert urine by burning the waste to a small amount of Ashes the nitrogen is vaporized into the air we propos that the pilot project should include these two types of fixtures in the study but both types of fixtures are currently permitted by WR
by mass DP they are already approved by the mass plumbing board a second problem is that public presentations of town Wastewater plans now compare only two options sewers and IIA septic systems no estimated cost is presented of urine
diversion for comparison as another alternative and the water quality management committee is not currently pursuing supporting or encouraging other urine diversion methods that are not part of the mass d P pilot project even though if they were adopted they would remove nitrogen from watersheds and
reduce water pollution article 16 asks the town to fund an assessment study to determine the average cost to install urine diversion technology in a home by surveying 50 homes and estimating the cost of installing a range of possible urine diverting fixtures and equipment
not just the narrow option currently planned in the pilot project Mass DP does not seem open to the idea that residents could choose to divert part but not all of the urine from their house and do it
voluntarily to the degree they choose there are many ways to do your inversion some temporary and expense inexpensive others involving permanent changes to the home and Landscape we want to get estimates for cost of many methods of urine diversion in anticipation that
many methods and options will become available and permitted outside the pilot project framework this information does is not being pursued by either the water quality manage Comm committee or by planning tasks being done by mtec
article 16 proposes to conduct only a paper assessment of estimated costs it is not proposed to fund any actual installations of equipment article 17 the town understandably hesitates to commit funds to a pilot project that requires large investment in permanent
installations of bathroom fixtures stru structural changes in homes and permanent buried urine storage containers just to find out how much urine might be diverted from a home article 17 proposes to show the effective effectiveness of urine diversion using inexpensive temporary
fixtures to avoid the legal problems of using Municipal funds for permanent Improvement to a property the idea is to use portable unisex urinals and temporary above ground urine storage containers and have the collected urine removed by from Properties by a licensed
service to an approved disposal facility this strategy has been described by one of maz's expert technical consultants as an affordable analog of a permanent urine diversion installation to know the actual pounds of nitrogen and Wastewater produced on a
property two things need to be measured the volume of Wastewater from the home and the concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent the concentration alone does not accurately indicate the actual PS removed I aseptic systems are incorrectly judged and compared solely by the nutrient
concentration of the effluent article 17 which measure with water meters the volume of septic tank effluent and the effluent nitrogen and phosphorus concentration together these measurements would provide information of the actual pounds of nitrogen
remaining in the Residential Waste waterer this information could be compared to effluent volumes and nutrient concentration s of IIA septic systems to compare the nitrogen removal effectiveness of urine diversion to IAS we partitioners believe that the town
should aggressively pursue urine diversion as a preferred best available coste effective environmentally sound technology in its Wastewater planning and funding falmouth's current timeline for Wastewater planning does not mention or include your inversion or show
falmouth's planned 3 to foure 50 home year inverting project in the time line the urine urine diversion project may not produce final approval by uh Master EP for five six or seven years from now the timeline for conventional
Technologies implies that it will be at least 7 years before actual implmentation of any Watershed restoration action meanwhile water quality in all of falmouth's waters will continue to deteriorate during those years urine diversion is a relatively
simple affordable alternative technology that could Advance progress in nitrogen control and pollution reduction much quicker getting accurate performance data and cost estimates for urine diversion as soon as possible could greatly reduce the costs of future Watershed plans and would speed
implementation of nitrogen removal thank you I I have a couple of questions M um so when I look at articles 16 and 17 article 16 has 50 50 homes and article 17 has 30 homes homes MH correct
so 50 is you said is just a paper survey am I correct yes um some um consultant would look at 50 homes and estimate what it would cost to put different kinds of year diverting fixtures in that home okay so you sort of answered that
question on 17 it says 30 homes now and that's to to um using portable unisex uh features and storage containers 30 seemed like a funny number to me I thought it had to be 50 for DP am I well
this is not for D okay but to study it they don't need a sample of 50 homes we're not doing this for DP okay uh D does have a 50 home uh number that they use for um provisional and um IA studies we're
now doing this for the D so if I may what what is your purpose in doing it we would like to demonstrate how much urine can be diverted from a home uh using simple inexpensive uh portable fixtures that are uh not
investments in the property um to show a Year's worth of uh removal the the work green center has done in the fall was two months we did two months of the same kind of study and we extrapolated to a year and people said well you know
during the summer some people go away some people go to Florida in the winter how about a year so so this is to do it for a year instead of two months and this is for this article 17 is for new new testing correct for the 30 homes this hasn't been done before
through the green center uh it would be for whoever would volunteer to do it okay so this is new testing that's my point okay and it also includes all the requirements that the ud pilot project of fou has so the the testing before the
Tes after the water meter installation all the requirements that are uh um described for the big longer project will be in there but it's only for one year there's no expensive fixtures to be changed in your house so that we can get
data that otherwise would take five four five six seven years we can get some data that would be kind of ahead of the big project so we have some inclination of what the potential is of urine diversion right now it looks like we have to wait four five six years okay so
but we couldn't use that um as data for D because it's less than their sample size well we we hope that D would see that information and uh consider it in their plans and in their approvals of what they would allow uh in homes the 50
is only based really originally on the Ia systems and IAS are very complex systems with lots of technology and machines so that's why they needed 50 to make sure that for a long time these would work this is a very very simple
one and we could make it 20 houses we could make it 40 houses we had 40 houses in the last time we got 40 people to participate if we get 50 grade but I think we got a lot of data with a smaller number of we only want the data
with a smaller number and according to what we learned also from George whather um we'll get the data pretty quickly because the last study it's the affluent changes pretty rapidly and then it stays pretty stable so that's what we want to
find out for a longer term and see if uh we get all these data and that would help the bigger projects too go forward and can you um can you speak to the status of the patent application that was filed in July of 2023 for the urine
diversion device can you speak it's still it's still in process we we are waiting all the paperwork is done and it's now just a bureaucracy on the government side to get the final uh word on that okay so it's pending it's pending yeah let me can I just go to my
next question sure so is the funding that is requested In Articles 16 and 17 now is that intended to be used for testing the device for which you seek a patent no no no so that
device that piece in in this um patent is not included in your no in the system article 17 proposes to use what are called cubies portable unisex uh urinals invented by the rich Earth Institute in
brador Vermont uh in homes voluntarily and uh to be stored in containers above the ground um that George Heller and the health board has approved in the past um and that's it those are the fixed to be
used big project if we were to if we were to do something like this I I'm just curious if your device would be used in if you did a 100 homes if it was available it would be it could be it's up to the people you could
also buy commercially available waterless journals right now but they very big and commers them to maintain um it's up to the people but we would initially just say use the QB because that was really effect of last time it's very inexpensive it can be done quickly
so that we have the data we want for a year also it's not installed in any uh permanent way uh there was concern that you're not allowed to use Municipal funds to improve a property uh this would be um equipment that would be loan
to the homeowner and removed again go ahead maybe I'm missing something so so explain to me how we're not using public funds this is going to be proprietary to to you guys whoever's applying for the who's applying for the
the uh the patent has nothing has nothing to do with either of these articles where's the patent come from um well you just handed us I I have a copy of the patent I think oh didn't you give no this was filed by them right right but they
didn't give it oh I'm sorry EXC nothing to know I never I never knew that there was a patent or anything that was applied for for any urine diversion by um Hilda and Earl and then as I searched this weekend I found it and I thought
okay that's it's interesting because I don't think we've ever heard that oh well I did because I went to the your your devices are permanent and what you're talking about um the U fixture that you're mentioning
it was uh paded by us and we think it is the best long-term solution for Cape Cod to divert in an affordable acceptable manner it is not produced yet it is not manufactured yet it is patent pending um
we will produce it as soon as we get funding to produce it and we would use it for anybody who wanted to use it that could get the okay from the uh Mass plumbing board that's private funding you're talking about oh yeah we have we have private get that on the record for
the if we get the funding forward we will give away 200 of them because the funding for the the first production is always for an X number that they decide to do and if that happens if we get all the funding then we would have 200 available if people want to install them
fine but right now for this project we don't intend to have anything permanent we intend to have just a temporary systems that would indicate what a permanent installation could look like in the data thank you Mr Brown did you
say you were aware of the patent I was why not specifically the patent itself but I was aware that they had a product which has been part of their tour when you do the tour of the green center yep was Town management aware of that did we no Madam chair I had not seen the
patent thank you any other questions go ahead um yes you you mentioned that the it would be the QBs that are um temporary installations for this that the town would be purchasing and they would then be removed what would happen to them after after the uh they would
belong to the town the town could decide what to do with them and there's lots of like from on Sal a lot of places want want them a lot of people want them anyway but um that was the initial a lot of people that we know that want to proceed because they're concerned about water quality and they want to do
something quickly um they want to buy the they're willing to buy them but for this particular petition articles we put all the cost in but we have heard of many people said you know we we can afford $80 for for a QB um we can afford to help
out with the with any of the sampling whatever needs to be but for this particular petition articles we put all the cost in there so that we knew what it would cost if the town took care of all of it thank you very much I I have one question oh go ahead I we're way
over time with them I find that this is um an interesting idea article 17 to get some data I'm afraid it probably will be data that won't really meet D's needs but I'd be interested to see what it could be but I don't know about the idea
of buying the QBs I'm all for being a supportive partner but I don't know if it's well we can leave that item out people are willing to buy $80 of QB but all the testing we want to do exactly the way it's was supposed to do before
four times during the year uh get the water meters in so that everything else in the project is exactly like the big project with be and it would be kind of ahead and parallel with the data and would be very helpful to give us an indication of how worthwhile could this
be and I I would just like to clarify one more thing before we go is I hope you realize that we are working to try to get this year diversion pilot program and we have a very concise report in our selectboard packet I don't know if you've seen that oh yeah sure uh later
in this meeting you're going to get a report from the town manager that describes the barriers and the issues um it includes things like having uh six or seven revision meetings with the DP as you gradually improve this you don't have to go through it all we're going to
hear it just want to make sure you were aware to the very good great thank you thank you we don't want to have that stalled at all we want to push that ahead but we're afraid it takes so long that we would like to have data earlier because people are so eager to do something understood
thank you okay petition article number 18 Mr Crane thank you Madame chair in the board my name is Tom crane Precinct one Mr zinsky it's good to see you back I hope you're on the road to full recovery
thank you um rather than make a formal presentation of what the uh article says I think it's pretty straightforward I'd like to review uh the process of how we got here so um on December 17th some Community Woodall Community
Representatives met with uh Chief liry and Lorie and his uh senior staff they're very generous folks I we need to be able to listen to the next presenter go ahead Mr Crane and gave us an hour of our time
and during that meeting we hatched the idea I don't remember it was my idea or chief Lor's idea that you know maybe we could fund something on sort of a trial basis for the village of Woods Hole using overtime staff you know they got their calculator out and determined what the
cost would be in that's that's in the article and um you know um in the final analysis I I hope we can have more permanent staff but I think given the Place Funding this is the most re uh
um uh reasonable uh way to go on that so that was a very supportive meeting almost immediately after that Christmas week uh our town manager Mr Renshaw and U Mr Johnson stab got together a meeting where we could go over that Chief Lori
again came Town manager's office were very supportive of that um people from the uh bike ways and pedestrian committee were there a member of the Health Board were there as far as the Health Board I think they're on board with this you know I haven't heard a formal statement so I
don't want to speak for them but I know the uh pedestrian bicycle committee is supportive of this article during that meeting I suggested to Mr Johnson stab that you know maybe um he could extend the U me the courtesy of running it by
Town Council and make sure it was a properly um um proper language in the committee uh he did that there was some minor tweaking which I was more than willing to make and that's pretty much uh how we got there here questions or
comments about article 18 Mr Mcall question for M Mr Johnson stop the the current use of that embarcation fund is am I correct that it goes to the police department some some monies come from that go to the police department but not
specifically earmarked for any particular project or or something definite is that correct that's correct there's an allocation from that fund for the police department the fire department and Marine Environmental Services um the allocation is a very
small portion of each of those respective budgets um and it's in recognition of the impacts on all of those departments that the Waterfront has do we have a are you able to tell us tonight how much is in that fund at this
time I believe it's it's over a million dollars I don't want to quote exactly because I don't remember exactly but it there's a balance of over a million and I believe we are receiving in annually in the neighborhood of 400,000 a year correct also is there a something up at
the state legislature to increase the embarcation triple it I think that yes okay thank you great any other questions comments just one F oh oh oh I was just going to comment that I think it'd be great to have a police presence down in Woodle that's a pretty dangerous
situation we have there in Steamship Authority parking lot especially with all the construction going on and so forth so I'd be very supportive yeah just one um minor comment really along those lines I think the um presumably this will get funded I
look forward to your support on this but um I think the police officers who are down there are going to need some guidance it's a real mess down there uh Mr Brown just articulated that I could go on and on you've probably heard about it but you know just what he's going to
do I mean for example so when Steamship Authority uh buses going the opposite lane is that going to be allowed um you that's just one many many uh questions I think that person is going to need some guidance and plan to work with the chief
on that great thank you very much thanks for your time you okay petition article number 19 prohibition of sale and release of balloons welcome there are some slides that were sent to Miss
Davidson um good evening my name is Chris Maguire Precinct one uh I'm here as the representative of this petition um but the actual petitioner uh besides me being the petitioner of record is my daughter F Maguire and with your permission I'd like to turn this
presentation over her okay great and she's got some slides thank you do we receive the slides were they in our packet believe they were placed on the packet no I I don't remember see it's just a computer okay welcome F thank you U good evening
everyone I'm Fe Maguire and I'm a junior at fouth Academy I became interested in this initiative because I grew up on on the waters and on the beaches of fouth and like many of you I'm always picking up balloons and plastic trash um I recognize the environmental stewardship especially by my generation is
imperative for Falmouth and the Earth okay so just before I get started just some definitions I to clear things up because I know on your little sheets it says I'm Banning balloons I am Banning lighter than air balloons so regular balloons are just fine by me so
um lighter than air balloons any type of balloon sold inflated with a gas like helium these can be latex or plastic helium is one of the noble gases it's a non-renewable imported gas that's lighter than air and when I say release I'm talking accidentally or intentionally so toddlers versus like
tributes um and then before I get there balloons I'm just saying balloons are not inherently bad just that balloons filled with helium are hard to control so everyone here I'm sure has seen a kid get handed a balloon and then they let go and then it flies up and the kid is crying and then the balloon and land
lands somewhere that it shouldn't so I'm not trying to penalize the toddler I'm just trying to prevent that scenario from ever happening in the first place because by using this regulation it would set a cultural norm and I know that the vast majority of our population is law-abiding so if we could just never
be in the situation of a kid holding on to a lighter than a balloon that would be ideal so when I'm talking about tributes these are what I'm talking about these sort of mass balloon releases for weddings for funerals for graduations it's really pretty in the moment but what you never hear talk
talked about is all these balloons go up and then they get melted when they get too close to the Sun or the atmospheric pressures cause them to explode then they fall down and they land in the ocean so plastic or the ocean or the environment so plastic balloons land in the environment and animals are drawn to
them because of their pretty colors and the ribbons and they can eat them so ingest them which can they can get tangled up in their intestines or they can starve because there's obviously no nutritional value in plastic so they have the sensation of fullness and then they'll just starve to death or they can
become entangled in the balloons like the bird that I got from the Noah website in a 2006 study by Oceana over 40 species of marine animals whose stomachs were surveyed contain traces of balloon material 88% of the species were endangered hundreds of thousands of
marine animals die each year due to Plastics and balloon debris because of the you know the ribbons is 32 times more likely to kill seabirds than other types of debris and even if um the balloons are not in ingested or end up wrapped around something they break down into microplastics which pollute land and
waterways and as we all are familiar with they will never leave our ecosystem Additionally the um aluminum coating on Myer balloons is flammable so if it comes into contact with telephone wires it can start electrical fires and even if in the low chance that balloons are properly disposed of they will just
end up in landfills they're single-use Plastics that you know only last a couple weeks helium is non-renewable like I said before and is fine through Drilling and fracking which is damaging to the en environment and balloons are wasteful consumption of this product this is a photo taken by Dr Anna
Michelle's lab she works at hooie this is 2.3 mil deep in the Gulf of California if you can see that's a zebra on the balloon and it might say it's a girl or something on it and there's the pink ribbon but just this is not a localized problem if we if we pass this initiative we're not just cleaning up
our backyard we're cleaning up the entire Earth who else so there have been 10 Statewide bands and five towns in Massachusetts have banned the sale or release um the ones that are in bold have banned the sale and release the other ones have just
banned the release so California chadam Nantucket and provinc town are the um legislature that I'm trying to trying to like reflect in M as we can see here's a map the Eastern Seaboard has done a pretty good job all the red stars are
states that have pass legislation um Massachusetts it would be really great if we could add another red star as you can see like uh States like Tennessee and Florida have also passed this so it's not necessarily a red State versus a blue State issue I think if Florida can do it bouth should be able to as
well um um also here's just the Massachusetts map so as you can see towns on Cape Cod are doing a really good job of spreading this initiative Falmouth is sort of in a Sweet Spot whereas we don't have to be the first but we have a chance to be
part of progress in the right direction it would be really great to see Falmouth join this movement of Environmental Conservation so how would this impact Falmouth very there I contacted celebrations and vows to ask them about their balloon sales and both of them responded very quickly
and said we no longer sell them I can't figure out how to update the website I was like great um so no known small businesses in Falmouth sell helium balloons the only businesses that would be impacted that I'm aware of are Stop and Shop Michael Shaws windfall and Dollar Tree as all of you are familiar these are multi-million dollar companies
whose yearly revenue is fairly small there are many fewer vendors in Falmouth than of plastic water bottles or nips which we passed and have not had a huge impact um on like life in fouth so this would probably even be even smaller than the plastic bottle band or the nip band
most likely wouldn't impact anyone greatly I met with the saw waste advisory committee multiple times I have the support of chair Alan Robinson who's seated here tonight and I've had a couple articles in the New York and not in the New York Times hello in
the in the fouth Enterprise and there was a letter of support written by a scientist at Sea um uh any questions questions what took you so long Mr zinsky did you have a question two thing I have a question
and a comment how long did it take you to prepare for this presentation I've been working on this initiative since September but like the physical slides I made for the Democratic town committee meeting a couple weeks ago you have ease about you when you are addressing the public that
is refreshing for someone your age and I cannot wait the town meeting to see you give this presentation thank you very much you're welcome any other go ahead Mr Brown I was just going to say I like it it's a great idea and I'm glad you got around to it thank Youk you very thoughtful okay thank you very much
thank you well done okay we're going to move on to business number three discuss and consider EST establishing a building committee to complete the planning and design phase of the new East fouth Branch Library through the Massachusetts Public Library construction program and
I believe Brian Stokes is here thank you welcome very difficult act to follow though yes it is D could could I just stop for one second and ask you to send me copies of your slides yes please thank you than you go ahead
sure okay if you'd send them to the select vote I'd appreciate it thank you uh so a few weeks ago we got great news that we were awarded um a planning and design Grant through the Massachusetts Public Library construction program we applied for this grant last May uh it
was a very long process it was a competitive Grant we were one of 15 out of 22 municipalities in the Commonwealth to receive this grant uh so uh the first part of this is that we we need to establish a building committee or an
advisory committee um to work on with the OPM or actually hire the OPM or the owner's project manager and an architect uh and move through the process of planning and designing a new library for East Falmouth to replace the current East Falmouth Branch Library so uh we
are here tonight to discuss that um we hope to convene a committee of five um and there's more information I believe in your packets that gets down to the details of it but this committee is really just responsible for uh issuing the RFP for the
OPM and uh for the uh architect uh working with those two individuals uh and then uh you know getting the the design of the building to where it needs to be to submit it for review in December with the Massachusetts Board of Library
Commissioners great any questions or comments go ahead Miss gostone um yeah I wonder if I either uh you Mr Stokes or or town manager can clarify uh the difference between a building committee and an advisory committee both terms are
are used at various points um in in discussing this particular committee we take a shot of that um K so yeah we um there this is a building committee um that's sort of the general term um we
perhaps could have made the um the the term of the committee East fouth Library building advisory committee that's that's the lengthy term that we've used for the charge and that lengthier term probably you know gets at all of the issues that we need to get at it's a building committee and we like to use
the term advisory to make it clear to all parties what the role is as further detailed in the in the charge document that you have which is to say you know for procurement matters the recommendations are going to the town manager and then for um policy level decisions such as you know site
selection and design the recommendations are going to the library board and the select board so it's just it's just a clarification of of what we mean by the term you know what's what what are the UH responsibilities and authority of the
of the committee and that's why we use insert the term advisory Mr Brown uh you recommending a town manager appointed working group type of committee or a regular meeting uh committees appointed by this board so
I believe it does need to be a board appointed by the select board because it's going to be making recommendations to the select board to the library board potentially the town meetings so yeah I do I do think it needs to be appoint by this posted meetings and all that'll be good because then the public can be more
involved thank you I would motion to approve the establishment of an East fouth Library advisory committee to complete the planning and design phase of a new East fouth library and to to approve the opening of the application process for the committee as presented i' second
that okay I have a motion in a second any further discussion amongst the board just miss Goldstone not to harp on the name but it's a building advisory committee in the title it's an advisory committee and the so so just getting consistent on that terminology in the the charter would be terrific yeah and I
that's that's uh my oversight so um if you I mean I think either term is acceptable but if you if you wanted you know perhaps the most clear one is the one that's on the title of the of the charge so it's East Falmouth Library building advisory committee so amend the
motion Miss Goldstone yes please to to the establishment of an East fouth Library building advisory committe perfect perfect and would you second that as well Mr Brown yes I would okay we have a motion in a second any further discussion I think that's a really good point amongst the board seeing none all
those in favor I I opposed unanimous thank you okay we're going to move into discuss and consider drafting a letter to the governor outlining the town's concerns with the closure of the cap and Islands Community Mental Health Center Mr Wrench I'm going to throw that over
to you thank you madam chair as uh you all know there's been a lot of uh coverage lately in the media in the Press with regards to the proposed closure of the Capen Islands Community Mental Health Center located in Pocasset Governor Healey uh last month
announced as part of her uh planned uh reductions in budget to the uh to the Department of Mental Health fiscal year budget um this proposed cut uh or closure the center is the only state-run mental health facility and one of the
only two inpatient psychiatric units located on Cape Cod the closure of this facility would eliminate 16 Beds which represents nearly half of the Cape Cod of the cape's total inpatient capacity and uh Madam chair select board the only
other inpatient unit located on the cape is located in hyanis and this facility serves uh folks age 16 and older only has 20 beds and patients typically stay for 5 to 10 days I passed out copies I think everybody should have copies of
the um media release from the uh barnable assembly of delegates Cape Cod Regional government assembly of delegates uh press release dated February 6th and this is uh following the Assembly of delegates
proposed resolution number four which I think um very clearly uh outlines some of the major concerns so um the uh the purpose of tonight's agenda item is to have a discussion uh get direction from the select board whether the select
board desires that a letter or perhaps a resolution uh be generated uh to be sent uh in opposition to the proposed closure of the mental health facility located in pcass I would be strongly in favor of
that yeah I mean i' hesitate to have a resolution that we had to wait two weeks more before we get this get this out so i' I'd go for a letter as opposed to a resolution I know uh Sheriff Buckley recently within the past week and a half
I believe um is in covered in the cape cot times I believe um generated a letter um that I think also very articulately captured the major points and the uh the value and the importance of this facility to the cape not to mention the jobs that eliminates right
staff there that are impacted by that as well I would imagine right yeah I don't know I don't have the Staffing numbers but it certainly would have an impact and and I reached out to the our director of Human Services and asked the same question and she strongly opposes
um closing it and also talked about the the longevity of care and the coordination of care that that this Mental Health Center was a very big part of and I think we need to get a letter out quickly and very strongly and the one thing I didn't see really
highlighted in those other letters which were well done is the fact that our First Responders are dealing with the Overflow of this already Yes and that's only going to exacerbate the problem and it's going to cause us to need more staff you know and it's not really their
role I would also be strongly in favor um of a letter uh I do think uh obviously we're we're joining um a large and growing and vocal chorus which I think is a good thing I do think with this being the only um uh state-run
mental health facility uh that to the extent that we can uh really make the case for why uh this unique situation is is warranted and needed for our region um that would uh that would be good in that that letter
um and uh would also just note that um this came up at the Human Services committee meeting last week I know that multiple committee members are planning to attend the event tomorrow night um uh with the goal of providing any um you
know insights or or information from that meeting that might be useful to the the town and formulating our position as well MH know the fact that we had to put these clinicians in place at our own expense just highlights the fact that the need is already not being met and to
take away services at this time is really unacceptable just I'll just add U that there is also a petition online that Senator Fernandez office has posted with respect to people being able to uh sign
that petition online uh and I was also told last night that there's a Planned rally at the Bourne traffic circle this this coming Friday as well well I think 3:00 in the afternoon I was told so uh certainly uh as far as I'm concerned uh
I'd make a motion uh could ready could I add one more thing I was actually looking for my email I wanted to just quote something from that email if you would just give me just um one of the things that one of the most important things I felt as though our Human Services director said was having a
local mental health hospital that we can coordinate care for some of our most vulnerable mentally ill residents is vital um she talks about um people who need to access these Resources with our
Falmouth Police Department School AG children it was vital that they be placed locally for the least disruption of their families that's why we need a regional um place and we need this place to remain
open this gentleman here yes um I don't typically take um public comment on business items but we'll take it this time and then Mr M you can move forward I just needed
to good evening my name is Alden cook and I am a retired firefighter paramedic from the fire department after 29 years of service I do not believe that the citizens of the community or other communities on Cape Cod realize the
seriousness of this matter the First Responders of which of course I was one spend an enormous amount of time dealing with problems of people who have psychiatric emotional schizophrenic
problems in their lives it's very very prevalent and a great deal of time is spent in trying to assist these people and to get them to the proper facilities if ptic closes we are left
essentially wide open in this and all the other communities on Cape Cod yes hyanis hospital has some place to put adults but for young people the next stop is Boston and that's not a viable
alternative for the citizens of Cape Cod it's not a problem that can be dealt with by families or by the police it needs trained Professionals in mental health so I can't urge you folks as a select board and for the citizens of
this community to do anything except support wholeheartedly the motion to not have this institution closed thank you thank you thanks for coming appreciate that Mr Mcall uh so uh Madam chair I
would move that uh we direct the town manager to draft a letter to the governor to be signed by the chair are outlining the town's concerns with the closure of the cape and Islands Community Mental Health Center uh as we have discussed this evening uh I have
complete confidence in Mr rure being able to draft such a letter uh do we do we want the letter to come do you want to sign the letter Madam chair I I'm fine with that if that's the will of the board that that would be my motion could second that could we also uh copy that
to our local legislators yes certainly yeah okay we have a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor I I unanimous thank you folks thank you you putting that okay we're going to move into the update
on the urine diversion feasability study Mr Johnson St thank you madam chair we thought this would be uh an opportune time to update the board and the community on the status of the feasibility study the urine diversion feasibility study uh the board will
recall the town manager appointed a working group and the representatives on that working group include Kim comart as a representative of the freshwater Pond committee Steve Leighton as a representative of the water quality management committee and myself we then
this board then approved a an intermunicipal agreement with the Massachusetts alternative septic system test center mtec of the barn County uh that agreement outlines a scope of services uh and $80,000 in comp in
compensation to um provide those services and the the working group and mtec have been meeting regularly and uh there's been a lot of progress made on the feasibility study at this point I
think the the the biggest takeaway is that it is uh more it's going to take longer and and it's going to be more complicated than initially anticipated to get the required approvals from the massachusett plumbing board and the
Department of Environmental Protection in order to be able to launch a urine diversion solution or technology as part of the town's water quality management plan um so I I'll just that that's sort
of the the primary theme that I wanted to hit um we have Brian horley from Mast is here with us tonight to answer questions um the just to give you a little bit more detail
on on why what the process looks like starting with the plumbing board so what we have learned is that it uh it's really going to need to be the manufacturer that leads the application submits and pursues the application with
the plumbing board in order to get approval for urine diversion fixtures that's not to say the town cannot play a role so our challenge now is to find a partner see if we can interest that partner in filing an application and then supporting them through that
process um so that's that's one of the pieces that's um proving more time consuming than we had anticipated um and it is different the devices that that we are looking at to be installed in order to control where the urine goes and to
and to use it for fertilizer and to um to know exactly what's going into the ground versus what's being removed from the property um it's not a composting toilet that we're proposing because that's not as controlled an environment there is leech it um from a composting
toilet um and and a composting toilet has been approved wouldn't require any plumbing board approval as I understand it um and then the D approval Earl referenced earlier there uh it it looks like it going to be a process with as
many as six iterations of review in order to get the Department of Environmental Protection to approve the entire the fixture the collection and the Disposal system the process for that um collection and Disposal system so that's going to be a lengthy D approval
process um and then how exactly it um to design a feasibility study that provides data that is reli iable for forecasting in a regulatory environment is another challenging aspect of this project so
what I mean by that is we could have a project with volunteers who are enthusiastic supporters of this and they might choose to use a portable year IND diversion fixture or even a permanent one at a certain level of of use right
but then if you take that same technology and you use it in the context of a regulation where you say everyone who has a house in this geographic area must install either a urine diversion fixture or an IA fixture and if you say
well you only have to install one fixture you can have other traditional fixtures we're not going to be able to take a pilot project that's s voluntary with only one of multiple fixtures being urine diversion and reliably be able to
know how much urine is going to be diverted by a non voluntary group in regulated environment and even then if I could it's still going to have to be some sort of followup to make sure that it's
actually being captured correct you could have angry people that are uh you know not happy that they were forced to implement this and not actually use it to its best performance exactly exactly right that's another hurdle that followed down the line right
so I I don't want to portray this as um a loss cause by any means so I you know it is potentially a much lower cost approach to achieve nitrogen reduction uh we've talked on the working group and with Mast about a couple of different
ways that it could be incorporated into the town's water quality management plan um one of those would be not in a mandatory environment so outside of those Geographic areas that the water quality management is looking at for re quiring IAS outside of those but within
an impaired Watershed on a voluntary basis there is a way to actually measure the amount of nitrogen being removed and credit it in a manner similar to the way we have Oysters as part of our water quality management plan um but it's a
different use and has a different implication and you know we might we might want to pursue both of those on different timelines if I could just go ahead I think eventually everybody in the Weds are going to have to do some sort of IIA or hopefully this could be
an alternative because when people are faced with replac ripping up their whole yard and spending 35 to who knows 50,000 by the time we get around to it or doing this which is going to be fraction of the cost this is going to be much more appealing all of a sudden even if people
aren't really flocking to it now when the money comes around they're going to say maybe it is a good idea go ahead yeah similar uh in a similar vein a couple of clarifying questions I mean when you're saying in a mandatory
environment it was my understanding that what would be mandatory is some sort of steps to reduce nitrogen and that the goal was to get urine diversion to be one of those options alongside IIA are you are you saying the goal is to get to a point where this would be the only
option available to home in a mandatory environment no no no exactly right if if we can get provision use approval um and if we launch a feasibility pilot sorry launch a pilot
project that demonstrates that you know the amount of nitrogen removed is consistent with our Watershed permit targets um then yes urine diversion could be one of the one of the solutions applied in that um regulatory
environment where there are Geographic areas where nitrogen mitigation is required and with regard to the the plumbing board and the D approvals that need to be secured um plumbing board is for kind of I don't know safety
usability right d is for purposes of understanding if the technology actually does what we need it to do in terms of nitrogen does every different version every different fixture that could possibly be used for your inter diversion need to secure both of
those those approvals to to be usable for the plumbing board yes for the D I'm not sure do you want to speak to that Brian everyone I'm Brian horley from the Mast TC septic test center I've been
working with Peter on this project and I believe Peter's right um you know I think each individual toilet fixture itself would need its own approval and and typically that's led by the manufacturer of those toilet fixtures to go to the plumbing board and get that fixture approval and you're right that's usually based on safety you know making
sure the toilet's not going to tip over or break when somebody's sitting on it essentially uh making sure that it's not going to clog or or spill or anything like that uh the D approval on the other hand is sort of looking at the whole I'm sorry that the other approval of the whole plumbing system by the plumbing board is looking at that whole uh you
know pipes and storage tank basically in the basement uh so that would be sort of a standard approved plumbing and storage system separate from the fixtures themselves back flow prevention and all kinds of stuff that weren't originally thought of right is go ahead is there
any uh United States manufacturer showing any interest in this yeah there is one yeah um American Standard has shown interest and are in the design phase of a year diversion toilet fixture right now oh good that's very promising because the European ones don't seem to be what we're used
to yeah yeah identifying a fixture has has proven more challenging than we initially thought um you know the majority of urine diversion fixtures are you know European made like you mentioned and and one of our first steps was reaching out to those different manufacturers and asking for uh whatever
testing documentation they might have from the EU standards that we could then Supply to our Massachusetts um plumbing board and it's it's surprising how little uh good testing data we've been able to locate so that's you know availability of data is really helping
us select which fixtures are are best for the project go ahead and have there been any conversations with American Standard it would seem that they would want a partner to to help them get through the the initial phases of of building a market for their product yeah I actually um met a representative from
American Standard down in Orlando uh last spring when I was down there at a a plumbing code hearing actually trying to get some Ur inversion language in the international plumbing code and they were very excited to see us there and had already been thinking about you know designing this end diversion fixture so we're we're regularly in touch with them
um my understanding is that fixture is still in the design phase so I don't know exactly when it'll be you know ready for distribution but it's good that it's happening either way yeah hopefully the timing will work out and we can consider
it thank you very much Mr Question oh yes I'm sorry in terms of the the additional scope um the additional stakeholder meetings the is there a particular purpose or particular topics that that you feel need additional
Outreach so um in that in this context the stakeholder meetings is essentially the working group meeting with mtec to work through the scope of of services so you know it's it's all of those pieces and you know ultimately you know we need the the plumbing board approval and the D
approval and then we have some policy decisions to make about how the the pilot project would work what that agreement would look like between the town and the homeowner that all needs to be detailed in a in a letter so that we can then go out to community members and
say is this you know not just the concept of urine diversion but specifically here are all the details here's what you would install here's you know what the town can you know will pay for if we can get over that hurdle of being able to pay for it um and here's what your responsibilities would be are
you interested in doing this or are you not interested in doing this so that's that's what we're referring to by stakeholder meetings thank you Mr Brown should we consider sending a letter of interest to American Standard and say you know we're interested to know how far along you are we understand that
you've been doing it potentially designing a UR diverting toilet and we're trying to do a urine diverting project here in Falmouth and we'd like to know if there's any hope of getting a fct anytime soon I mean I you know I think Brian has initiated that dialogue I don't I don't
think it would hurt to you know have a letter perhaps from the town manager just reinforcing that yes the town is interested in pursuing your inversion it's you know we want to be a little bit careful right because we haven't committed to going ahead with that project yet it's we're still in
feasibility no but just just say that we're interested to learn what the status is if any such products should be available anytime soon so we you know maybe could know better what to plan yep and that could also come from the working group that interest could come
from the working group y okay we're going to move on to this go goes right along with it discuss um and consider approval of the amendment to the intermunicipal agreement with the Massachusetts Advanced septic system technology Center of Barnesville County for services related to urine diversion
fusibility study thank you madam chair so um to date we have expended about $50,000 of the $80,000 under the agreement with mtec and we have identified another
$33,000 of services for additional work to be done in order to really answer these threshold questions of is the pilot project viable or not so we are seeking the board's support to um amend and extend the intermunicipal agreement
with mtec of Barnstable County for that purpose and um I think attached the the documents may be a little bit out of sequence attached to business five you have the updated scope of work and that will be the attachment
would would be the attachment to the amended intermunicipal agreement if the board is so inclined to approve it so let me just repeat the the original agreement authorized 80,000 and we've spent 50,000 correct okay and we're anticipating there's another
$33,000 on top of that that will be needed in order to complete the feasibility study and can I just ask the scope of the work for the initial agreement is approximately 65% complete why is it only 65% Complete because um you know for a
variety of reasons one is is I alluded to earlier the plumbing board approval is is taking a lot longer than we had anticipated and then there there's some elements of the scope of work that are dependent on that so in order to one of
the elements of the scope of work is drafting that letter um that would go out to potential participants and until we have the plumbing board approval we know what the fixtures are we know what the cost is we can't really finalize that letter so there are some
interconnected pieces anything else besides the the plumbing board approval there any other holdups in terms of getting the first um the original agreement and the scope of that work up
to more than 65% what else besides the plumbing board approval well the toilet itself right so let's um sorry just paging through real quick so the participant agreement we talked about the the toilet
fixture um is again is again un approval yeah that's the approval issue um the approval of the monitoring plan that's um what was mentioned so um that well that that one is we have said that the initial scope
for the D investigation is complete but then there's we don't have the approval yet because that process is just a lot more extensive than had been anticipated at the time engage a plumbing engineer to design that system I I'm just thinking that why
would we enter into an agreement knowing that these things couldn't be done in that amount of time that that's all I'm concerned about is that we didn't have sort of the foresight to say you know these this is
never going to happen in the in the time of this that we have created the so let me take a shot so um I'm no expert in this area um but I was involved in some of the initial discussions with with MC and with Peter um so I can say this uh
and and it's been alluded to um this is Cutting Edge and Innovative in a lot of regards and hasn't been done so we quite honestly miscalculated the length of time um so what this would do if approved by the select board tonight
would give us that additional month months to complete the study feasibility study I'm I'm I'm going to put some on the spot because I one of the concerns I had is I feel it's important imperative that we're in position going into November 2025 town meeting to have these
questions answered so will this extension get us to that what's the confidence level and Brian I know I'm putting you on the spot because and to answer the chair's question you know why do we miss it because we we we we underestimated the length of the complexities and and and and the in the
the issues with Gathering data like Brian mentioned earlier um you know we we thought perhaps we had a data set that was available from uh from the EU and it it wasn't as available as we thought initially so it slowed us down it's really out of our control I mean it's a goal to chase after but we don't
know that the plumbing board is ever going to approve it right and they might partially approve something with conditions that aren't reasonable and we don't know we don't know what I just think we have to be careful with contracts and agreeing to something in a contract and then oh well we need more
money because we can't get it done in the time we need to be careful of that I wouldn't be surprised if this comes back again for another extension because it's we're going where people haven't gone before I mean following up thank you following up on your comment I think as I understand
it this is we're hoping this is ready by September 1 2025 yet the agreement has an end date in it of November of 2025 why don't we make the end date September 2025 if that's the date we're looking for
yeah that's that's a good question and that actually was deliberate because there's there's one deliverable that's called out for delivery after September one which is investigation of funding sources and and expanding the geographic area meaning finding other towns that
might be interested in joining the the pilot project you know realistic that's something that that I can anticipate at this point that is not likely to be wrapped up and completed by September 1 so I wanted to anticipate and put that in there but all of the other
deliverables we have a Target date of September one I guess m Goldstone like to go back to the the question of confidence of being able to do the work that is stipulated by September one by September one especially given that one of the
complications that was surfaced in this initial phase as you started off by saying Mr Johnson stab is that the manufacturer needs to lead the plumbing board filing not us and as Mr Brown just said there's an aspect of this that is out of our control so H how confident
are that we that we can actually get to the point that we want to be at by September one well I I wouldn't be honest if I said I'm 100% confident that we'll be ready by September 1 but I guess what I will say is you know backing up what everyone else here said or you know a few of us said that you know this is a a really novel um path
that we're on here we're break definitely breaking new ground um so you know when we signed the initial agreement um you know we we didn't really know you know everything that we needed to know you know like you know what what uh you know approval we're going to need with d EP exactly what we're going to need with the plumbing
board um so over you know the past um you know eight months or so we've learned a lot and um you know we've I feel like we've now cited the targets that that we need to hit and um we actually have at least one plummet one toilet manufacturer who is who we are working through the process we're
basically trying to facilitate the process with that manufacturer um so you know I I do feel confident that we know what we need to do um and that you know we we will be successful moving through that so that's that's kind of the best I can I can give you know we we didn't
know as much when we started and we know a lot more now so I'm a lot more confident that we'll be able to complete the tasks if I could just add to that um you know there was pressure put Upon Us by um other individuals at town meeting uh
in in terms of getting this done and getting it done quickly certainly I never promised that it was going to be done in time for the last town meeting or the town meeting before that um and I'm you know I'm certainly not 100% confident will for the very reasons that have been identified that we're going to
complete this by September 1st but you know this is this is a an approach a solution that the community is very interested in we are working on it diligently and seriously and if it's not ready you know it's not ready um and at
some point you you don't keep spending money on it and at some point you limit the time that you spend on it but I I I I wouldn't be honest if I said with confidence don't worry about it we're going to get it all done this time I want to be careful about entering into a
contract knowing that we may not be able to get it done and that's my only concern Mr Brown and then miss go the only thing is that if we don't continue and continue to fund it we're never going to get there and there's no guarantee of certainty that it will be done and there is a chance that this
money won't come back to us because we're investigating something with the hopes that it can be done but we really don't know but I still think it's a good investment because if we are successful think how many millions of dollars we're going to save for our residents if it's we could we could possibly yeah possibly
I just I I guess I'm just stuck on entering contracts knowing and signing away that we put an end date of September 1 and it's not going to happen maybe there should be a clause at the on that date and say that you know September 1st or reconsidered by the
select board I mean it's a potentially we know that it's a possibility that it might not be so are we prepared to extend it again I am as long as it's not crazy what I'm saying is as of September one let's say the contract is September 1 they come back and they say no we need three more
months contract says november5 okay but but we talked about we talked about changing the date because of um uh town meeting in November am I correct Mr rsha you you there's an there's a element in this extension that is outside the scope
of these approvals um we want to stay with the November 2025 date in the in the agreement in the contract but you're saying that's what I would recommend you want it September one that was my that was my Direction I want it in time for November I want that's the goal answers
to those that is the goal and if it what I'm saying is if it doesn't happen by let's say November because that's the contract is this board willing to then say okay we'll do another three months for another $30,000 that's my concern and I just want it on record I would
well I don't we don't know the dollar know what we would vote in you know when it when it comes up I hope it's I hope it's a lesser dollar number and more of a time frame I guess it's the principle of just extending it again is my issue Mr Mcall go ahead I mean I I think that problem is probably inherent in in every
contract you find that has a you know an outside date for performance always things happen storms no materials whatever so uh you know I appreciate your concern and I think it's a valid one but I have to agree with Mr Brown at
this time that I think we should move forward the upside is uh you know is very very good for the for the town if uh if it proves to be a do you want to make the motion viable study I would make a motion to approve the Amendment to the intermunicipal
agreement with the Massachusetts Advanced septic system Technology Center want to hear any from the public barble county for services related to a urine diversion feasible study as presented okay we have a motion is there something
you'd like to say that would change the motion uh um okay a motion but to Str it okay but we have a motion to approve do we have a second second okay we have
a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor opposed no it's 4 to one it passes okay we're going to move on to the consent agenda I will go through each consent
agenda item and if you would like to hold it please notify me as the chair licenses consider a vote to approve the application for a special one-day wine and malt beverage license Main Street Gallery 189 Main Street Friday 21325
from 4:30 to 7: hold please okay thank you uh administrative orders consider a vote to approve a request for variance to the sign code [Music] 184-191 Main Street consider a vote to approve
letters to be sent to Governor Healey and leg and state legislators regarding propos proposed change to the septic tax credit consider a vote to approve a waiver of the Town permit fees for the fouth Housing Trust 5 unit affordable
housing development 419 woit Highway okay I'll move this uh consent agenda with the exception of item one held by Mr Mcall second okay I have a motion in a second all those in favor I okay back to licenses Mr Mcall you hel
this respect to the application I just need to abstain from uh from a vote as I am a member of the board of knobs light for which the uh uh event uh on February 13th is to benefit so I will abstain
from voting perfect thank you okay do I have a motion to approve the license under the consent agenda uh Madam chair uh move to approve an application for a special one-day wine and malt beverage license for the Main Street Gallery 189 Main Street uh for an event Friday
February 13th 2025 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. okay any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor I for anybody second that second oh I'm sorry I'll second that sorry sorry got a motion in a second all right all those in favor I I okay they're four with one
abstention thank you all right let's move on to the Minutes review and approve and vote to approve the minutes of meetings public session January 27th 2025 uh move to approve the minutes with two
uh amendments perfect uh page two under announcements uh should read super spelled s o u p- ER uh bow Sunday fundraiser and on page eight uh under item 13 uh the spelling
of Brighton point should be corrected at all points to be b r a y t o n great thank you anything else from any other board members any other correction found the minutes to be very well done okay and timely so I will entertain
a motion to approve with the two edits from Miss Goldstone move second okay I have a motion and a second any further discussion amongst the board seeing none all those in favor I unanimous thank you all right Town manager supplemental report thank you madam chair no
supplemental report tonight oh okay select board reports yes uh along uh with yourself Madam chair and uh Mr Brown had the opportunity uh last week to attend uh a
workshop hosted by the resilient Woods Hole uh group um I want to uh thank and commend the town manager um for uh asking so many uh Town staff to also spend their mornings um on that task it was it was a significant dedication of
effort um and uh I think very worthwhile um a lot of uh work uh a lot of great presentations kind of bringing those of us who haven't been intimately involved with the the project um up to speed on where things are and then some really good conversations about priorities and how we actually um move forward toward
uh greater resilience so it was a it was a really great workshop and and really appreciate everyone's time there it was really incredibly interesting and so far out of my wheelhouse that it was great to learn to learn about what's actually
happening in in woodo and all the uh knowledge that they're bringing forth towards working on it any other Mr Mcall very quickly Madam chair I did attend the bicycle and pedestrian committee meeting on February
5th and I just want to uh report that there was considerable discussion about the uh recent fatality at the corner of Dillingham and and gford Street and uh the request that we'll be going to the traffic advisory committee with respect
to some improvements of that intersection to uh to to to solve some of the problems that uh that have been longstanding at that uh at that particular location thank you thank you Mr Brown I get to meet uh on a
zoom call with Mr uh Senator Dylan Fernandez to talk with him and Jonathan Kaufman and Steven rery about the uh proposed potentially proposed legis ation for uh changing the septic tax credit to be refundable and they were
very interested and asked a lot of good questions and they seemed to be very supportive so I thought that was good meeting great Mr zinski um I had every intention last meeting uh to announce the fact that I'm not seeking
reelection um fortunately I had some dental surgery that I had to take care of uh dug sick Devon on me so I kind it kind of leaked but it was never my intention I I feel like I owed the board you know this announcement prior um and I will not be
giving any um indication of what my future plans are until my commitment to this board in the town is done upon I think it's uh incumbent upon me to finish the job that I was voted in for before I make any kind of announcement Deon I'll I'll find you when that comes
all right thank you well we're going to miss you guys absolutely a big change I'll be around trust me come on um I have a couple of things I did go to the Super Bowl and I'm glad you corrected the spelling on that
because the Super's great it was a great Gathering I think they had over 100 people um and it was it was just wonderful um at the Jewish congregation uh sat last Sunday um I want to remind all select board members that we have a
March 1st Workshop it's going to be a busy one we have some big items to tackle um and then lastly I'm going to ask Mr Mcall and Miss Goldstone about an update on the select board
handbook we we've talked about it i' had a couple of reservations but we'll we'll get we'll get you let me know okay and if there's anything else that you want on that agenda for March 1st um it's pretty full right now what do you have on
we need to talk about um a land acknowledgement policy that was sent and I will get that out to you so that you can review it ahead of time we need to talk about immigration enforcement big issues and I wanted to be able to do it um where we could have more conversation
and not tie it up into one of these meetings um Mr what am I missing Mr rer with a cover we just talked about it this morning so we covered um the uh immigration uh procedures and policy the land uh acknowledgements and uh there
was a uh uh Land Development rights transfer development transfer development that Coastal resiliency Workshop made me think about the fact that people in those low-lying areas are going to be looking for Relief I don't know if transfer development rights is something that's going to be anything that's helpful but I'd like to know a
little bit more about whether or not it could be well yes the YMCA used that uh right we used the transer development rights with respect to that was for the water for the water um and also talking about the um empowerment empow that has
gone to the legislature um and I think the only thing that may come out of that discussion is if we want to send a letter like a lot of other communities have um if there's anything else that you would like to see that might be something we could maybe squeeze into a regular meeting because it's not we
could probably do that on the 27th so the 24th I think I had it penciled in u based on discuss for the S meeting on the 24th the governor's office is specifically asking for support from communities that would be interested in it and I'm not sure it's going to be something that we need to spend too much
time on so it might be able to have a draft there are lots of examples out there um if you've read them it's they're all attached to that empowerment bill but if there's something else um Mr Mcall you sent me something thought of the uh possibility
of the feasibility study for moving the airport to the Joint Base Cape C yes and that can either go on the 24th or on the 1st have have you invited the school superintendent to the March one meeting
I have not because I she sent a letter out and I don't think we need to she's on top of it there and and made it known so that was very good yeah I don't think we need to and that goes through the school the uh school committee but I'm glad you asked that question chief chief of police has been invited absolutely and
Town Council as well yes thank you anything else any other if you think of something please let me know um and Mr mcell I will leave it to you to make a motion to adjourn okay chair thank you since it's your favorite thing to do I
will make a motion to adjourn second okay we have a motion to adjourn any further discussion amongst the boards seeing none all those in favor I my only caution is don't get used to this you guys 8 o' e [Music]